Not bargaining with UPA for any corporate house: Amar

Published: Tuesday, July 15, 2008, 16:35 [IST]

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New Delhi, Jul 15 (UNI) Samajwadi Party General Secertary Amar Singh today strictly denied indulging in any bargaining with the UPA for a particular industrial house, and also justified Reliance Industries head Mukesh Ambani's meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

It is understood that Mukesh Ambani's meeting with the Prime Minister was a bid to protect his business interests in the wake of political demands for imposition of windfall profit tax (wpt) on oil refineries which would affect his profitability.

Mr Ambani along with others like Birlas is a respected leader of the coprorate world and has every right to discuss related issues with Government functionaries, said Mr Singh, who is considered close to Mukesh Ambani's younger brother Anil Ambani.

The Ambani brothers have had a running business rivalry and Mr Amar Singh had, a few days ago, suggested that the Prime Minister intervene to bring peace between the two.

Addressing a press conference here, Mr Singh said Mr Ambani has also met West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bahttacharya and Jyoti Basu, but when he meets the Prime Minister, the meeting is termed as confluence of bourgeois interests, the SP leader said.

The SP leader said those who had been attacking him for his relations with certain industrial houses were doing so without any reason.

''I am also an industrialist like Mr Murli Deora, and so have relations with many of them, but it does not mean that they affect my politics,'' he added.

Mr Singh also rubbbished reports that he had demanded certain ministries for his party and sought removal of some ministers as a precondition for his party's support to the Congress.

As for the demand for taxing the windfall profit was concerned, it was not taregtted at a particular corporate house, he stressed, pointing out that ''This is a demand being made by the Left and others also.'' UNI NAZ AKJ HS1601